Catastrophe In Attawapiskat

This has relevance to my Native Housing blog on so many levels.

Watching the National news I was appalled seeing the living conditions at Attawapiskat Reservation this is unacceptable and I feel for my fellow Natives in the north. As a child my father and I traveled to many reservations in northern Ontario visiting family and friends and I've never seen it this bad. I can recall walking down a gravel road to the lake to swim, using an outhouse, going to the well to get a pail of water, we all bunked up usually 4 children on a large bed, the house was well insulated plus no matter what there was food on the table. Now this was many years ago and you would think living conditions on the Rez have improved, later as an adult when I drove to visit my father’s grave at Pickerel River Reserve I was impressed on the improvements in housing, that goes the same for Parry Island Reserve. All this makes me wonder what happened at Attawapiskat how did they fall through the cracks and be left to their own devices? There's finger pointing towards the Gov’t for not helping enough then there's accusations of corruption & mismanagement of Gov’t funds in the Attawapiskat Band office. From what I’ve read there will be an audit/investigation and rightly so…somebody has to be accountable for this mess. I’m agnostic but if you do believe then say a prayer for the people of Attawapiskat especially for the little children and the elderly. :(

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Poor Working Environment

My unit is located near the KMHC office, along with a friendly wave or hello I see the junior staff going about their business in a cheerful manner with the exception of one employee. You would think KMHC has a pleasant working environment but that is not the case. March 2016 is when Urban Native Homes head office was forced to move from their former spacious location to the cramp basement level of KMHC. There were approx. 8-10 staff members at the time. Then the Urban Native Homes financial scandal broke out and soon after the current UNH acting director’s illicit past became public knowledge, everyone was worried will they have a job. Fearful meetings going on in the community room, the rumor mill was in full rotation while I just stood back and observed the panic. Check your search engine it states this building location is Urban Native Homes head office yet that is not correct. There is no real head office, the organization has s...

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There's not many original KMHC tenants left that I know, last week I got word tenant Dean King passed away, we were not related and I remember when he moved in the building we got along well, we hung out often and he shared stories about his life and family. Eventually I notice he wasn't the sharpest pencil in the drawer and I started drifting away thus ended our friendship. Dean didn't have the usual addictions most male aboriginals endure he didn't drink or do drugs the problem was his mental state which I believe began after an auto accident years before. After I moved out of KMHC I'd often see him standing in line at the food bank in Gore Park in downtown Hamilton or hanging out with street friend Galina in Jackson Square food court. He didn't have many friends and other KMHC tenants just tolerated and accepted his strange behavior. He'd walk the streets looking disheveled and lost. When I received the news Dean died I didn't feel sad I felt surpri...

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